


The Truth About Paul (Who?)

by Gleeleaf



Category: Gilmore Girls, Superman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gilmore Girls Setting, Crack, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Forgettable Paul, Headcanon, Paul is Superman, Post-Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life, Rory dated Clark Kent, Superman Crossover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2019-01-11 00:22:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12310953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gleeleaf/pseuds/Gleeleaf
Summary: What if Rory's boyfriend Paul, from Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, is sooooo forgettable because that's how he WANTS to come across? What if he is in disguise and he actually has a huge secret?(And yeah, I get that this Paul guy from Gilmore Girls is totally not Superman material, but how about we just imagine for a second that he's portraying himself that way on purpose. How we see him on the show is just how the other characters are PERCEIVING him, and it's the way he WANTS them to perceive him ... lol K happy reading.)





	The Truth About Paul (Who?)

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm a big Gilmore Girls fan (of course), but I'm also a major comic nerd (of course), which means Superman is a large area of interest for me as well - from the comics to the multiple tv adaptations to the movies, and more.
> 
> I'd never considered these two of my fandoms as being anywhere near each other in the past, but this morning I just WOKE UP with this ridiculous head canon blaring trumpets in my noggin and I couldn't make it go away. xD
> 
> Hope you have as much fun reading it as I had writing it.

 

 

“Rory, due to our ever-conflicting schedules I think we should break up. Take care, Paul.”

 

The text came through during a rather important mother-daughter conversation taking place on a lovely Fall day in a park gazebo.

 

The young woman read it aloud to her mother, shrugged just a little, and briefly lamented about how poorly she had treated Paul. Within seconds the phone was set back down, and within less than a minute, the conversation had moved on to much more important things, the text forgotten.

 

 

Clark Kent smiled smugly down at the mobile in his hand. The text he'd sent was still unanswered, exactly as he'd hoped and expected. He was so unimportant that even the break-up text did not deserve a response.

 

After another minute or two, he pocketed the phone smoothly with a little chuckle. Mission accomplished. He'd really become the invisible man; forgettable in every way.

 

Clark had been practicing his skills of disguise and anonymity for years, ever since leaving his home town of Smallville behind. Colleague after colleague, friend after friend, girlfriend after girlfriend, deftly weaving an illusion around himself that screamed _mundane, boring, forgettable, unimportant, not-a-threat, overlook me,_ and even _I was never here …_ And each time that he was convinced the illusion was a success, he'd let people slip out of his life naturally, or he'd slipped out of theirs. No harm no foul.

 

It wasn't always pleasant, but he knew that being a master of this illusion would have an important part to play in keeping his life in tact in the years to come. People _couldn't_ look at him twice. Couldn't see _Clark Kent_ at all, if he was to succeed in his mission to protect Earth as Kal'El, the last son of Krypton.

 

There was almost a twinge of regret in the goodbye this time, though. Rory Gilmore had been his “girlfriend” for nearly three years. He'd _liked_ her. She was smart and talented, with a wit as quick as lightning, and a tongue and pen to match. And she was ambitious, resourceful, and strong-headed, all of which were characteristics Clark really admired in a woman. Her beautiful face, lovely dark hair, and baby blue eyes were just icing on the cake, really.

 

He sighed to himself, just a tinge bittersweet. As little as the “relationship” had actually meant to Clark (he'd been testing himself, after all, not really intending to become attached to the girl), and as little as he knew it had meant to Rory (he'd made sure of it), he had to admit he'd learned a lot from Rory Gilmore.

 

They'd met at a small writers conference in the state of New York. Rory was a free-lance reporter filled with wanderlust and vigor, passionate to seek out adventure and tell the world about everything she found. Clark … or “Paul,” at the time … was the unassuming PA to the editor of a small-town paper, who was so out of his depths attending even this small conference that Clark hardly even knew why they had come.

 

He'd been drawn to Rory right away, though he could hardly have said why at first, and he definitely didn't expect anything to come of it. But after a social gathering one night at the conference, Rory had ended up drunk, and was suddenly divulging her dreams to Clark, passionately explaining exactly how she saw herself changing the world. Her interests were varied, from political to sociological to geographical, but not a one of them seemed less important to her than another. She talked about writing the way only someone in love with it could.

 

Clark had never considered he might want to write some day, but hearing Rory enthuse poetically about her passion made him want to see it the way she saw it.

 

And then, while he was listening raptly to her inebriated tirade about the things she felt most strongly about in this world, Rory suddenly stopped, leaned forward, and kissed him. And somehow, one thing led to another, and he found himself dating her.

 

He supposed it was because Rory both was and wasn't looking for something stable. She wanted a safe and comfortable romantic connection, but she also wanted freedom and space. He decided it was a good opportunity to test himself again and see just how invisible and forgettable he could be with someone as sharp, observant, and passionate as Rory Gilmore.

 

Of course, Rory could never really remember where or why they had met and started dating, which was more or less what Clark wanted. And although she often remembered many one-on-one conversations that resulted in impassioned speeches on her part about writing, journalism, politics, news reporting, global activism, and several other topics she deemed extremely important, she never seemed able to remember that she'd actually had those conversations with _him_ , which suited Clark just fine. In truth he'd done his best to bring the speeches out of her as he became more and more interested in every topic she fixed on, but he carefully kept himself out of the conversation, hanging on every word she said while saying very little in response that would help her remember her audience.

 

Yes, Rory Gilmore had actually changed his life. He knew exactly what he wanted to do as Clark Kent now. It was the perfect cover, unassuming and common, reporting the news but not taking part in it. And it was also the perfect “in” for his alter-ego to know exactly what was going on in the world.

 

Clark was oh-so tempted to tell Rory all of this. To thank her. To, for once, be his real self around her and let her _see_ him. But he knew all too well what a mistake it would be.

 

The first girlfriend he'd ever had, he had started out in his usual unassuming way, trying to train himself to be forgettable. But he'd fallen for Lana Lang, and when he tried to pull away from her, he couldn't resist but show her a little of the real him … And it was all downhill from there, because she wouldn't let him go. She'd found out his secret, and even though he trusted her to keep it, he couldn't help regretting that there was one more person out there who knew. Not only because it threatened him, but because it put Lana in danger too.

 

He'd taken a new identity after that, and had done it again several times since then. Most people hardly remembered his name anyway (or whatever name he was going by at the time), when it came time to move on and out of their lives, but it couldn't hurt to take extra precautions.

 

Of course he'd take a new identity this time too. Even if Rory and her family and friends wouldn't remember _him_ per-say (he'd made sure of that), he knew what kind of people they were. They were the kind of people who would always remember the _story._ That humorous memory of how Rory once dated this guy for nearly three years, but they always forgot about him. That guy who was so nice, but just so _forgettable_ that he was practically invisible. It was too much of a risk to even have that come back to him someday.

 

 _Goodbye, Paul,_ Clark thought, gathering his id's, credit cards, papers, and various other identifying memorandum, packing it all neatly in a manila envelope with a typed label reading _ANKROM, PAUL_. He slid the envelope calmly into a filing cabinet, right alongside a number of similarly cleanly-packed envelopes, each labeled by a plain white sticker and a printed name. _NEWTON, JOHN_ _…_ _REEVES, GEORGE_ _…_ _WELLING, THOMAS_ _…_

 

Clark thumbed through the envelopes thoughtfully for some time, reflecting on what a success this last test of his anonymity had been. It truth, it had been a _resounding_ success, even more impressive than he could've hoped for. And then he smiled to himself, his thumb and forefinger pausing on a somewhat thicker envelope than the rest. Screw a new identity. He was _ready_.

 

Carefully and deliberately, he slid out the envelope labeled _KENT, CLARK_.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think! Headcanon accepted??
> 
> Remember, in the episode "Winter, "Laurelai even said (AND I QUOTE) ""He's like a superhero, but his super power is that you can't remember him no matter how much time you spend with him!" So, yeah ... Paul is a superhero.
> 
> Also I just kinda dig the similarities and parallels I suddenly started noticing between Rory Gilmore and Lois Lane ... Cuz DUH Clark Kent has a type! xD
> 
> And of course I liked the idea that Clark got interested in journalism because of Rory Gilmore teehee ... Of course I know it was mostly because of his highschool girlfriend Lana Lang in the Superboy (and other) comics, or his best friend Chloe Sullivan in the tv series Smallville, but hey, the opportunity presented itself where I could pretend it was Rory Gilmore and I wasn't about to pass that up.


End file.
